Photographs by »New York's Most Famous Unknown Artist«

The photographs of the artist Ray Johnson for the first time in an exhibition: The Morgan Library & Museum in New York opens PLEASE SEND TO REAL LIFE: Ray Johnson's Photographs on June 17. Through October 2, visitors can trace Johnson's efforts to incorporate »real life« into his art. The photographs were taken in the early 1990s and mark Johnson's final creative period. They will be exhibited alongside earlier works by the artist.

Ray Johnson (1927-1995) studied at North Carolina's famed Black Mountain College, where science and art were taught interdisciplinary and on equal footing. From 1948 he lived in New York City, where he quickly made a name for himself among colleagues. Most notably, Johnson's achievements include his multimedia collages, which were inspired by the Dadaist style, and the founding of Mail Art, in which he sent smaller artworks by mail to other art practitioners. The art community often associates him with Fluxus, even though he never belonged to the movement. Johnson rejected conventional art institutions such as museums. Today he is widely considered unknown, and among contemporary art practitioners he enjoyed the reputation of a legendary outsider.